When comparing Starcraft vs Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, the Slant community recommends Starcraft for most people. In the question“What are the best RTS games for PC?”Starcraft is ranked 6th while Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Starcraft is:

The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race. While each race will have their own unique abilities, the balancing of these abilities allows the game to play even handed, with no real advantage to any race.

Pros

Pro

Well balanced race selection keeps the gameplay fair

The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race. While each race will have their own unique abilities, the balancing of these abilities allows the game to play even handed, with no real advantage to any race.

Pro

Tons of personality that keeps the story and gameplay interesting and entertaining

There are three selectable races in the game, Terrans, Protoss and the Zerg. The Terrans being human, while the other two are alien races. What makes the game stand out is that each race feels exceptionally different from one another, each with their own personalities. This makes for a different experience depending on what race has been chosen to play with.

Pro

Built-in offline LAN support

Being an older game, Starcraft suports offline LAN due to not as many people having internet back when it was released. This is something that many games (including Starcraft 2) regrettably do not feature anymore.

Pro

This game can be downloaded for free

Blizzard is now offering the original Starcraft (titled Starcraft Anthology) as a free download.

Pro

Highly specialized units that are easy to learn but hard to master, keeping the game challenging and interesting even at a high level of proficiency

Pro

Gentle learning curve

The progress of the game is structured in a way that allows the player to get accustomed to the game gradually. The AI in the game is also not rushed so the player has time to thing of how they want to maneuver, so is a bit more relaxed than other RTS games. Overall this makes for an experience that could be seen as casual in some respects.

Pro

Long, entertaining campaign

There are quite a lot of missions in the game that have a varying degree of particular objectives, ranging from stealth to base destruction. The campaign also features secondary missions that allow for even more gameplay, but are not required to complete the game.

Pro

Best-in-class FMV breathes life into the campaign

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars features the best FMV to date in any Command & Conquer title, featuring an all-star cast that fill the ranks of both GDI and NOD. The beautifully shot and wonderfully hammy-acted videos ensure that the player knows both that there is a grimy darkness to the campaign and that the it does not take itself too seriously; avoiding the over-the-top nature of the Red Alert series, which is its staple. The video pop-ups during each mission help convey a sense of urgency to the player when necessary, and a feeling of reward when a mission is successful.

Cons

Con

Old and outdated

With the original release dating back to 1998, the game is quite old now and its graphics are not on par with current game offerings.

Con

Lacks widescreen support

Starcraft is only available in a 4:3 resolution. However, a hack to make it work in widescreen can be found here.

Con

Pathfinding issues

The AI in the game has a few pathfinding issues where troops do not go where intended by the player. This can be frustrating in the heat of a battle.

Con

Poor multiplayer design makes for one-note battles

Due to the way multiplayer was designed, there is no incentive to build up ones technologies. As even the lowest tier units, when built in large enough number, can decimate entire bases, each game becomes a rush of low level troops facing off against one another. This is due in part of the quick training times of infantry units, coupled with their low cost, meaning the only way to counter an infantry rush is to build units of your own.